Fortunately, Defense Review shot some additional (albeit lower-definition) video footage of DR owner/editor-in-chief firing the FN SCAR PDW prototype weapon from the left side, so you can better see its reciprocating charging handle moving back and forth with each shot. There are two video clips. One shows the weapon being fired on full-auto. The other shows it being fired on semi-auto. Both video clips demonstrate why DefenseReview doe not like reciprocating charging handles on tactical firearms (rifles/carbines/SBRs/sub-carbines, specifically), for any reason. If anything (shooter’s support hand, vehicle window, building corner/wall, intermediate barrier of any kind, tree branch, etc.) interferes with the charging handle’s movement during the firing sequence, it can cause the weapon to malfunction, which isn’t good during a gunfight/firefight. The more dynamic and fluid the gunfight, the greater the chance that something will interfere with the charging handle.

By the way, don’t try what you see the shooter doing at home, unless you’re an experienced shooter with full-auto shooting experience, specifically. Notice how close the author’s/shooter’s hand is to the weapon’s muzzle. FNH USA brought the weapon out only at the author’s request, as a courtesy, which the author greatly appreciated. Otherwise, FNH USA most likely would have outfitted it with a stubby vertical foregrip–like the TangoDown Stubby Vertical Grip, for example–for weapon reliability and safety reasons, in order to 1) prevent the shooter’s support hand from interfering with the reciprocating charging handle’s operation, 2) prevent the shooter’s support hand being burned while firing at high round count and/or 3) preventing the shooter from getting his support-hand fingers blown off while firing on full-auto under stress.

And, here’s the original video DR published, showing the FN SCAR PDW prototype firing from the right side, just so you have all the videos, together:

About David Crane

David Crane started publishing online in 2001. Since that time, governments, military organizations, Special Operators (i.e. professional trigger pullers), agencies, and civilian tactical shooters the world over have come to depend on Defense Review as the authoritative source of news and information on "the latest and greatest" in the field of military defense and tactical technology and hardware, including tactical firearms, ammunition, equipment, gear, and training.